Disclaimer: Naruto and Ushio and Tora belong to their respective creators, of which I'm not one of.
Chapter 8
Naruto's eyes shot open as he cradled his posterior, the phantom pains of Kakashi's 'jutsu' coming back to literally bite him in the butt. "Note to self; always keep myself facing forward when Kakashi-sensei is around and check to see if he's on any child predator lists," he mumbled to himself.
"Hm, not bad blondie. It's good to see you've taken my observation lessons to heart. And you were even able to test out your new jutsu to do it as well. Now, what did you learn?" Tora asked as he lazed on a branch above the one said blond was hiding on.
"Well, despite how he acts and his appearance, Kakashi-sensei has a really strong taijutsu style. I saw few weak points and any that I did spot he was quick to defend. And attacking his blind spot doesn't work because I think he senses me coming even with my best stealth moves," Naruto noted as he thought about the fight he just experienced through his clone.
"And what does that tell you?" the summon egged on.
"…That at my current level, I have zero chance at getting a bell before the timer goes off," Naruto concluded with a sigh. "I don't think neither Sasuke nor Sakura could do any better though."
No sooner had he said this than a piercing scream filled the woods, signaling that either a banshee had moved into the area or Sakura was taken out by Kakashi. And since banshees aren't real, that left the latter as the only option.
Shifting his position so his silver eyes could look fully at the whiskered boy, Tora questioned, "Based on that, what are you going to do next?"
Naruto thought for a second before sighing. "It means I'm going to have to team up with Sasuke, doesn't it?"
"Don't look at me, it's your test," Tora said teasingly before cocking a long ear. "If you are going to team up with him though, you might want to hurry. I hear Duck-butt McEmo getting closer to that cyclops's position. And while he doesn't suck terribly, I doubt he's got the skills to take that guy down."
Naruto nodded before leaping off the branch to catch up to his dark haired teammate, leaving Tora to fly above the trees to enjoy the show from above. Pushing his speed, Naruto was able to cut off Sasuke only a mile before he came to Kakashi's position. The blonde stopped in the Uchiha's path, causing him to stop his trek forward.
"What do you want, dobe?" Sasuke asked in irritation, knowing he was on a time limit and didn't want to waste any of it dealing with Naruto's shenanigans.
Naruto took a deep breath and counted backwards from ten, a relaxation technique Tora taught him to keep a cool head when on the hunt or when fighting (ironic seeing as the bakemono was nearly as hotheaded as he was), before answering. "Sasuke, I think we'll need to team up," Naruto said firmly.
To his credit, Sasuke didn't show any surprise at the left field request, just shifted his expression to neutral and asked in a bland voice, "And why should I team up with you, dobe? I saw your fight earlier and you couldn't even lay a finger on him while he took down your clone with ease."
Naruto resisted the urge to make a snappy retort and said, "That's exactly why we should team up. I could tell that he wasn't even trying in that fight and, while you're good, I think this guy is above all of our levels combined. He's a jonin for a reason, ya'know?"
Sasuke pondered this for a minute. While he did take pride in his abilities, he took care not to get blinded by them. After all, he needed a clear picture of his skills for the day he found him. As much as the Uchiha hated to admit it, the whiskered boy proved a strong point. Just from the short exchange between Kakashi and the clone had shown that the man didn't waste a movement and each of his strikes was precise. If the jonin was anywhere close to his level, then Sasuke knew he wasn't ready to fight him toe to toe. Yet.
"…Alright dobe, what did you have in mind?" Sasuke finally asked, knowing the blonde was his best shot at passing. Despite his reputation as a dunce, Sasuke knew Naruto could have a sharp wit when it came to the battlefield, as well as a penchant for traps if most of his pranks were anything to go buy.
Naruto grinned and began. "Alright, first thing we need to do is find Sakura and see if she'll be able to help. This is a three person job after all. Next, we'll…"
Several minutes later. Remaining time: thirty minutes
Kakashi stood nonchalantly in a clearing in the forest, idly flipping through his book. 'They're going to make their move soon,' he thought, his eye on the pages but his other senses were on full alert. 'I wonder if any of them have grasped the true meaning of the test? It would be nice to pass a team for once, especially with all of the potential this one has. Oh? Looks like they're moving.'
Ten Naruto leapt into the clearing the second he thought this. Half of the clones pulled out shuriken and kunai while throwing them at him while the other half transformed into tigers and charged at him in a fury of fangs and claws. Knowing he'd have to take this a bit more seriously, Kakashi put his book back into his pocket and got ready to defend. Taking out a kunai of his own, he used the blade to deflect the projectiles thrown his way while simultaneously jumping out of the Tiger Clones' reach.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke's voice rang out from behind him.
'What?' Kakashi thought, his eye widening as he turned his head to see a fireball the size of a large boulder come pelting towards his unprotected back, a smug looking Sasuke standing behind it. 'So, Naruto would force me up into the air with his clones leaving Sasuke an opening to attack me while I'm in midair and can't defend myself as easily. Clever, but still not enough to grasp the true meaning of the test.' The Hatake couldn't help but smile under his mask though at this new development. This batch of genin were actually making him keep on his toes and were showing the beginning of teamwork.
Acting fast, Kakashi through his kunai at a nearby tree and pulled at a ninja wire he had attached to it in a split second, allowing him to be pulled out of the way of the fireball and leaving the five Tiger Clones to get scorched instead. The second his feet touched the ground, however, the sound of a tripwire being snapped sounded. Kakashi's eye widened as his one leg was snared at he went hurdling up into the air. Acting fast, Kakashi sliced through the rope and started to fall, however he heard just a second too late the sound of a shuriken being thrown. Bracing himself for an attack while falling, Kakashi didn't feel a blade pierce his skin but instead felt the bladed star pass him.
Landing on the ground, Kakashi turned to his two present students and gave an eye smile. "Nice effort guys, but you still didn't get a bell."
"That's because I got two!" a familiar voice cheered from behind the tree he was standing in front of. Turning around, Kakashi was surprise, to say the least, to see Sakura walking out from behind the tree, the two bells clutched in her hand. Looking down, Kakashi saw that the string that previously held the bells had been cut.
'The shuriken that they threw didn't miss me at all,' he thought impressed. 'They were aiming for the string knowing that I'd probably be too preoccupied trying to avoid being snared to properly dodge it. Then Sakura, hiding behind the tree they herded me towards, snatched the bells as they were falling (1). Quite impressive, my cute little genin,' Kakashi thought with a huge grin behind his mask. 'Just one more test to see if they're ready.'
"Well, color me impressed. However, now you have to determine which one of you has to go back to the Academy," he stated, wondering how they'd react.
The trio was silent for a moment before Sakura spoke up, holding out the two bells to the boys. "Here, you two should have them. Without the two of you waking me up, I would have still been passed out from a simple genjutsu, and the only reason I was able to snag the bells was because you two were able to bait Kakashi-sensei like that. If anyone deserves to go back to the Academy, it's me."
"No way Sakura!" Naruto protested. Sure, he no longer had a crush on the girl, but that didn't mean he wanted her to fail. "It was you being able to calculate how Kakashi would dodge that we were able to set up that snare for the trap. Not only that but you were able to get the bells the second they fell without Kakashi-sensei noticing. And Sasuke," loath as he was to admit it, Naruto knew when to give credit when credit was do, "Sasuke was able to not only use the fireballs to distract sensei, but he was able to cut the string of the bells without him noticing. Besides," he gave a confident grin at this, "I was able to make it through the Academy once, right? I should be able to do it again way easier this time!"
"Hn," Sasuke grunted, "The dobe has a point, but it was his plan in the first place to bring us all together. We'd probably be running around like chickens with our heads cut off instead of actually completing the objective (1). I'll head back to the Academy and get a team with the next graduation."
As each of them said that the other two should be the ones to pass, Kakashi couldn't help but smile brightly (even as his mask covered it up) at how these young ninja were able to stick up for each other despite their clashing personalities. Kakashi made a noise with his throat to gain the group's attention.
"Well, since none of you can agree on who's to go home, I'll decide for you," Kakashi said ominously as dark clouds seemingly gathered behind him. "The person going back to the Academy is…" he paused for dramatic effect just to shake them up. It worked as all of them, even the stoic Sasuke, had a bead of nervous sweat on their foreheads.
"None of you! You all pass, congratulations on becoming official ninja of the Hidden Leaf!" he finished with a cheerful tone.
There was a beat of silence before…"WHAT?!" was the shouted response of both Sakura and Naruto, Sasuke himself settling for widening his eyes while Tora, unseen by all except Naruto, laughed hysterically as he had watched the whole thing.
Naruto was the first to express his thoughts, "What do you mean we all pass?! I thought you said if we didn't have a bell, we'd go back to the Academy?"
"I lied," came Kakashi's blunt response. "One of the skills you need to learn is to look underneath the underneath, which includes deciding what is true or not. It was merely to disguise the true meaning of this test that you all exhibited, even if it was unknown to you. Care to guess what it was?" Seeing them all nod, Kakashi elaborated, "Teamwork. One of the most important aspects of being a Leaf ninja is a strong basis of teamwork. Look over there," he said while gesturing to the Memorial Stone in their training area. "Written on that stone are all the names of Konoha's famous heroes who had died in order for their comrades to live. A friend of mine once said, 'Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash.' It is a credo that I live by and that I hope you all take to heart.
"You three, even though you all have your differences, were able to work together for a common goal, even if it meant one of you would have failed, and when it came down to a choice of who passed and failed, you all stuck up for each other. That is the type of mentality it takes to form a proper team, so congratulations! Team 7 is now officially formed."
Naruto and Sakura cheered while Sasuke gave a somewhat happy smirk. The moment was ruined when the children's' stomachs gave loud growls. The three blushed and Kakashi chuckled. "I guess we should have lunch and then we'll discuss how our team is going to work for training and missions. Fortunately I brought food for everybody, so let's all head back to the clearing shall we?"
With that, Kakashi turned and headed over to the spot they all started at with Sakura and Sasuke in tow. Naruto followed but stuck behind a little to discuss the test that just happened with Tora. The summon was lightly sitting on the blonde's shoulder while he began to prattle on out of the corner of his mouth how awesome it was he had passed.
"Don't get cocky, brat," Tora admonished the whiskered boy. "This is but the first true milestone when it comes to how far you have to go. Don't get complacent, after all; the cocky wolf get's impaled by the buck."
"I know sensei, but like you said, I was able to pass the first hurdle into becoming Hokage! I can't wait to get started on all the cool missions ninja can do, like rescuing princesses and defeating bandits (2)!" Naruto whispered excitedly.
Tora stared at the boy for a minute before deciding that he was being serious. The bakemono then began to laugh uproariously. It started as a low chuckle but soon became a full on belly laugh. Tora laughed so hard that he fell off Naruto's shoulder and onto the ground, still clutching his stomach and laughing his hardest.
"What?" Naruto asked in concern/worry. Tora just continued to laugh and Naruto, in irritation, checked his surroundings before chucking a shuriken at the large tiger. Tora yelped and scrambled out of the way of the bladed star least he get a very close shave and a haircut. "What?" Naruto demanded forcibly this time.
"Kid can't take a joke," Tora muttered before flashing a fanged grin at Naruto. "Oh, I'm sure you're going to be delighted at the kind of missions they'll start you off with!"
Naruto didn't like the sounds of that, and Tora's echoing laughter afterwards did little to ease his worries.
1 This is just a small joke at the fact many people consider Sasuke's hairstyle to resemble a duck or chicken's butt.
AN: Here we go again! A little short, but I just wanted to wrap up the Bell Test this chapter with a hopefully unique take on it. The next chapter should introduce the Wave Arc, so look forward to that. For those of you who think Kakashi went down to easily, consider this; Kakashi probably didn't take the fight seriously (I mean, he basically used gag jutsu and moves in canon) and fought around genin level, he'd failed numerous teams in the past since they never worked together and yet this team did so it caught him by surprise, and even an expert can be defeated by basics.
Now, I'm going to work on a challenge and then get right back to the main stories. In the meantime, please READ, REVIEW, and ENJOY!